On sex abuse, Pope Benedict is a lying hypocrite

I suppose when you start out as one of the Hitler Youth, anything afterward is an improvement. Not so with lying hypocrite Pope Benedict (the former Joseph Ratzinger) who runs his empire like a mafia chieftan and protects his power base at all costs.

As was noted in a previous column, Ratzinger was for years Pope John Paul’s enforcer who had little sympathy or tolerance for the human condition, evidenced, for example, by his stand on birth control. Ratz doomed third-world believers to a life of AIDS and hunger when he proclaimed the use of condoms as a “sin.”

But Little Joe’s finest hour came with his orchestrated cover-up of church sex scandals. That’s why I almost put my fist through a wall when I heard Benedict’s various speeches during last week’s perverted visit to America.

Upon his arrival at Andrews Air Force Base, Ratz said, “It is a great suffering for the church and for me personally that this [sex abuse] could happen. It is difficult for me to understand how it was possible that priests betray their mission to these children.”

But if anyone has betrayed his mission to children it is Benedict, whose statements constituted the height of hypocrisy.

Here’s why.

In 2001, charges were brought against a Colombian-born priest serving at a church in Houston, Texas. John Does one, two and three alleged sexual abuse by Juan Carlos Patino-Arango. In May of that same year, Ratzinger issued a letter written in Latin to all Bishops ordering that “crimes such as the sexual abuse of minors” would be handled in private by the church.

Atila Sinke Guimaraes, writing for Tradition in Action, notes that in that letter, Ratz also imposed two orders of silence upon his bishops, and threatened to excommunicate them if they broke silence on the matter of the sexual abuse cases. Hatchet man Joe went even further. He ordered that the church bury such cases for 10 years after the minor turns 18, a clear indication that the statute of limitations would favor the Vatican during ensuing legal battles.

When attorneys for the abuse victims learned of Ratz’s letter, they named him as a co-defendant in the Texas action, accusing him of conspiring to cover up the molestations.

In April 2005, Joe had become Pope and though powerful, he did not want to face the scandal of a court trial in America. So he asked President Bush to declare him immune from liability in the Houston case. The formal request was made by the new pontiff in August 2005, but there is reason to believe that a political conspiracy between Ratz and George W. was actually hatched back in 2004.

According to journalist Sidney Blumenthal, Bush “pleaded with the Vatican to pressure US Bishops to step up their activism against abortion and gay marriage” during his re-election campaign against John Kerry.

One week after Bush made his request to the Pope, Ratz sent a letter to all US bishops”pronouncing that “Catholics who were pro-choice on abortion must be denied communion.”

Catholics comprise about 20 percent of the voting public and, following the pope’s pronouncement, Bush garnered the majority of Catholic votes, despite the fact that Kerry is, himself, a Catholic.

Then came the formal request for immunity which I alluded to earlier. Bush complied. Quid pro quo. Re-election in exchange for immunity. But that shady deal was more than just unethical. It should have landed both Ratz and Bush in jail for obstruction of justice.

That’s why I am offended by the Pope’s tarmac speech last week, and by subsequent speeches he gave during his visit to Washington, DC.

One day after his arrival to our shore, Ratz was treated to a birthday celebration thrown in his honor by President Bush. At the party, the Papal Hypocrite said, “Any tendency to treat religion as a private matter must be resisted.” He also agreed with Cardinal Francis George of Chicago that the sex scandals “had been badly handled [by bishops].” Nothing like throwing your own bishops under the bus after you personally told them to orchestrate a cover up. Ratz clearly has balls, at least figuratively.

Then it was corrupt George’s turn to make a statement. Bush said the papal visit was a reminder for Americans to “distinguish between right and wrong.”

If ever there were two men who did not know the difference between right and wrong, it is Nazi Joe and George W. It’s enough to make you want to take the Lord’s name in vain.

And let’s not let the Vatican cardinals off the hook. They are as guilty of obstruction as is Ratzinger. Following the death of John Paul, the Cardinals knew of the sex scandal cover-ups, and knew that Ratz was directly implicated in the Texas court action. Yet they still elevated him to pope. Clearly there will be no real reform or any true justice for victims so long as the same power structure prevails in Rome.

And speaking of the victims, let’s consider how they and their families must have felt when watching the media gush over Ratzinger last week. Instead of being handcuffed and removed to a Texas courtroom, Benedict was feted and praised.

Not one member of the mainstream media challenged the Pope’s lying statements. In fact, all questions had to be submitted in advance and approved by the Great Hypocrite.

Excuse me, but I thought our government was supposed to protect its citizens from harm, torture and abuse, not grant immunity to the abusers. I thought we were supposed to stand against despots, not throw birthday parties for them.

All Americans, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, should be appalled at the pope’s crimes, and sickened by the charade of last week’s papal visit here.

I look forward to the day when Rome has a real spiritual leader and America has a real honest leader. I doubt that either will happen in my lifetime.

Jim Longworth is the host of “Triad Today,” airing on Fridays at 6:30 a.m. on ABC 45 (cable channel 7) and Sundays at 10 p.m. on WMYV (cable channel 15).